Germany approves $295m arms sale to Saudi

Germany has approved arms exports to Saudi Arabia worth $295 million in contravention of the coalition government’s own rules banning the transfer of weapons to countries “directly” involved in the Yemen war, reported the Daily Sabah.

Publish date : Thursday 4 October 2018 17:15

Code: 365042

Citing the country’s Economy Ministry figures , the Turkish paper also reported that the other eight countries involved in the Yemen conflict as part of the Saudi-led alliance received arms worth $28 million from Germany in the last six months.
It’s thought that between 14 March and 23 September the government approved 87 export permits for the members of the alliance.
The exports are said to have been approved despite an agreement not to sell arms to countries “directly” involved in the Yemen war. The deal was forged during the formation of the coalition between Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc and the Social Democrats in March after months of political wrangling. It was not made clear which countries were meant by the phrase “directly”.
The war between the Saudis and the Iranian-backed Houthi group has raged since 2015, with devastating effect. A senior UN official warned that as a result of the conflict, at least one child dies every ten minutes.